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Corbett's own witness lukewarm to more gas leasing in state forests and parks

Marcellus rig

Bits of rock - known as tailings - that come up during the drilling process are collected in a huge trough next to a drilling rig; the tailings will be disposed of in a landfill after drilling is complete.
(DONALD GILLILAND | dgilliland@pennlive.com)

Dan Devlin, Deputy Secretary of Parks and Forests for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, had been an official in the Bureau of Forestry working underneath previous witnesses who'd testified that further leasing was "a knife in the heart" of the core mission of the agency.

Devlin didn't use such colorful language.

With a map of a state forest lease outside Coudersport in Potter County on the screen, Devlin explained various efforts the state foresters have made to minimize the impact of drilling on the forests, including limiting the number of well pads per lease.

Devlin explained the department had written the limit on well pads into the lease because they had decided not to allow any more shallow gas drilling, because they felt shallow drilling was more destructive.

Under cross examination and in response to direct questions from the judge, Devlin revealed himself less than enthusiastic about Corbett's proposal to raise another $75 million for general fund purposes by leasing state parks and state forest land for gas development.

When Concannon asked if he was comfortable with the proposal, Devlin replied: "As long as there's no surface disturbance and we get to set the conditions, yes."

Under cross examination, when asked what he thought the value was to the public resource to lease more, Devlin replied: "It really isn't beneficial from an ecological standpoint, but I guess it's beneficial maybe from an economic standpoint."

Devlin testified that when the drilling on state forests began, "we didn't have a clue what was going to happen," and although the agency "has a much better handle on the situation" now, he said, "we don't have a handle on the total impact, no."

At the end of the hearing, the final day of three, Judge Kevin Brobson held up a thick bundle of documents the government had entered into evidence outlining various management plans and monitoring schemes. Noting it was a lot to read, Brobson asked Devlin, "Am I going to see anything in here that indicates the agency recommending further drilling?"

Devlin said, "No."

Brobson asked, "Has anyone in DCNR recommended the governor and legislature move forward with more leasing?"

"Not to my knowledge," said Devlin. "I don't believe anybody has. I don't believe anyone has made a recommendation from DCNR."

Brobson had heard from a variety of witnesses earlier in the day, including former award-winning state parks director John Norbeck, who testified the early days of drilling "was like a free-for-all" in the state parks, with at least one instance of an "errant seismic exploration" putting dynamite charges in a state park picnic area.

The most affective testimony came from Cindy Bower, a member of the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation and one of the people who believes her Article 1 Section 27 constitutional rights have been violated by the state's leasing schemes.

Bower spoke passionately of how she moved to rural north central Pennsylvania in the 1970s to be near the "peace and serenity " of the forest, and then she walked the court through a photo album she brought documenting changes to the Tiadaghton State Forest as a result of natural gas development.

"I used to go to the forest to see the wildlife," said Bowers, "now you can go take pictures of the industry there."

She said, "The wilds in this section of Tiadaghton State Forest no longer exist."

The court was unusually still as the slightly-built, gray-haired lady described how a gas industry security guard demanded to know her name and told her "You're asking questions that don't concern you," when she inquired how many wells were to go on a pad.

"He walked around to the back of my car and took my license plate number and told me 'I'm going to have to report this incident,'" said Bower.

Bower said she now has three well pads within one mile of her home, which adjoins state land. To date, 11 wells have been drilled on those three pads. She said the drilling rattled the windows of her home. She said the flaring of the wells sounded "like being on the tarmac of a jet airport."

"I couldn't turn up the stereo enough - without it affecting my hearing - to drown out the noise of the flaring," she said. "I had to sleep with ear plugs."

The point, however, wasn't Bower's discomfort at home.

Her point: "The impacts were there to my property even though they were not on my property."

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